I’m really enjoying these. Thanks for taking the time to make them. I’m pricing out PMC’s now. I like how you’ve mixed the interior with Wayfarer and Cascade. I’m most interested how the battery and inverter have been working for you. I imagine there’s not a lot of solar power in Washington, especially if you are in parking garages. I suppose you can do a lot of your device charging at work. Thanks.
With the lack of solar right now I keep my battery charged by driving. An hour of idling can pretty much take the battery up. The math isn't perfect but solar is up to 100W while the alternator is maybe.. 800W?
@@SmartVan The smart (no not you silly) alternators in a PMC could potentially put out up to 150 amps. My bat to bat charger regulates it down to 30 amps max. Never seen it charging past 11 (150 watts @ 12 v), hence. I guesstimate an hour for my daily 10-12 amp consumption.
Don't know if your monitoring incoming content. I am surprising my daughter with a build out for her 2018 Ram /City. I have the bed done with some embellishments and am starting the other side. She wants a sink and a cooking station. I have found an ok 2 drawer filing cabinet that is 16 x16 inches. The top drawer will slide out with the single burner butane stove / with pot and pans underneath. The second drawer will be canned goods/ soup / tuna fish etc. I was looking for some measurements from the back edge of the slider door to the back door of the van and the measurement from the back edge of the slider opening to where the weell well starts. She's not coming until the 17th of October. I can go to a dealer to get a measurement but then I will have three salesmen flooding my e-mail forever. A loyal Follower
Hope it worked out! Let me know if you learned anything interesting! I will say I have seen some PMC builds with a cooking station in the back, like a fold out system that you can access when the rear doors are open. Links in one of my playlists on PMC camper designs I've found on YT.
@@SmartVan So far I am in for $583.64 . The bed has been altered two times to fit. It is 28 inches wide x 74 inches long and 14 inches off the floor. Enough room for 4 - 26 inch x 161/2 inch bins underneath. It has been contoured around the right wheel well. The sink unit is 35 inches long and 15 inches wide. Has an 8 inch deep oval sink connected to a 6 gal Igloo jug with a Baby Whale foot pump. It has been contoured around the wheel well on the left side. My cooking unit sits next to it facing the slider on the left side. A Yette cooler sits behind the drivers seat. There is 16 inches between the bed and the sink unit giving her enough room to fit her bike. She wanted a computer desk that dropped down to cover the sink 24 inches x 35 inches but that didn't work . I put cleats at either end of the sink unit so she could slide this in so she could adjust it out when she sits on the bunk. She was a little nervous when I drilled the 2 inch hole in the back quarter panel for NOCO electrical plug. All we have left to do is complete the insulation of the walls and ceiling and the paneling. The floor has been insulated and laminate installed. She is following your channel for more information about the electronic hook-ups. Thank's for the reply.
Hi Smartvan! Thanks for posting amazing reviews. You really gave me a good idea of how it is like to live in a cascadecamper van. I'm also super interested in purchasing this van and using it as my sleep places for the weekdays (I will stay in a permanent home during the weekends). I have one question. I heard that you are living in Seattle area. As you may know, this city is mostly rainy, gloomy, and not much of sunlight. Does it give you enough solar power to get through the night? charge a laptop and phone etc? I use a Costco electric blanket at night to keep me warm. Will this be still usable in this van? Thank you :)
] I park in an underground garage so I actually get 0 sunlight in the winter. I do just fine driving half an hour each day, since the generator is much more powerful than solar. Even then though I keep my fridge off. No-go on the electric blanket (if it's AC socket), the math just doesn't work out for electric heating. I've tried some electric blankets on amazon supposedly for 12V but they were terrible.
You could get one of those Chinese diesel heaters and either install yourself or have someone do it for you and from what I hear they work great use little fuel and heat up really nice
I found this "day in the life" video interesting and valuable as I plan the ergonomics of my PMC. Have you found any way to exploit the sheeted-over space where the second row seating foot wells would go? They have sealed up almost 3 cubic feet in our cargo versions. Cheers.
Cascade campers puts the battery and some electronics down there, but even then there's still a bit of extra space. Sometimes my flip flops make it back there haha. I'm currently not using the space on the driver's side at all, I was considering putting emergency tools there since it's hard to access.
There's an aluminum bar that's held in place with some long bolts that drill into the headliner. There might be a closeup in my van tour video or my LTE video near the beginning. They stay in place with velcro
@@SmartVan that's interesting. I was thinking about placing a curtain rod in the overhead storage. It appears sheldon's travels uses their promaster city this way too
@@SmartVan If you look under rear and don't see a tire, you don't have one. It will be obvious to see. You can see the round housing where it should be mounted, if you look under and upward. Ram or Fiat really, doesn't supply a spare, you have to buy it for $$$. Well, I bought my RPC rim on amazon for $70-80. Then strap it secure underneath with black rubber silver hook strapps from home depot along with some stretched cargo netting, so it sure not to fall during rain where tire could slip out of wet rubber cables, causing a accident dropping in front of someone behind you. Happened to me 2am, luckily noone but me on road. So I solved with tight cargo net, now its secure. The Ram mechanism that would secure the tire and release it underneath the van would cost hundreds too. So cable it up like a star pattern around your tire, then cargo net as a safety net when things get wet underneath, was the remedy for me, costing about $150 (rim tire cables net) There are holes in the underbed frame that cable hooks can fit into and you can drill a couple if you need. Anyway, I'm sure you can think of something that suits your safety concerns and produce another way with your ingenuity but the sad issue is, you will need to buy a spare rim tire out of pocket.
Excuse me Sir, but I couldn't help but notice that you appear to be living out of your van. And were those rain drops that were pelting your roof near the end of your video?
Hello Mr 4321 Dud, but I couldn't help but notice that you appear to be watching a channel other than Static Campervan. Have you obtained the relevant permits from Mr Static in relation to this activity? He'll 'give you rain drops' alright!!!
Thank you for sharing your realistic van living experience. I like you're wild hair, such a contrast to your sweet disposition.
I’m really enjoying these. Thanks for taking the time to make them. I’m pricing out PMC’s now. I like how you’ve mixed the interior with Wayfarer and Cascade. I’m most interested how the battery and inverter have been working for you. I imagine there’s not a lot of solar power in Washington, especially if you are in parking garages. I suppose you can do a lot of your device charging at work. Thanks.
I saved $10k CDN on my 2016 PMC by waiting till year end when the 2017's hit the lot. Still new with full warranty.
With the lack of solar right now I keep my battery charged by driving. An hour of idling can pretty much take the battery up. The math isn't perfect but solar is up to 100W while the alternator is maybe.. 800W?
@@SmartVan The smart (no not you silly) alternators in a PMC could potentially put out up to 150 amps. My bat to bat charger regulates it down to 30 amps max. Never seen it charging past 11 (150 watts @ 12 v), hence. I guesstimate an hour for my daily 10-12 amp consumption.
I appreciate your detail :)
You can also park at
Walmart, 24 hour dinners
24 hour laundry places
24 hour super markets
Thanks for the video. As a full-time van guy, I feel your pain lol
Don't know if your monitoring incoming content. I am surprising my daughter with a build out for her 2018 Ram /City. I have the bed done with some embellishments and am starting the other side. She wants a sink and a cooking station. I have found an ok 2 drawer filing cabinet that is 16 x16 inches. The top drawer will slide out with the single burner butane stove / with pot and pans underneath. The second drawer will be canned goods/ soup / tuna fish etc. I was looking for some measurements from the back edge of the slider door to the back door of the van and the measurement from the back edge of the slider opening to where the weell well starts. She's not coming until the 17th of October. I can go to a dealer to get a measurement but then I will have three salesmen flooding my e-mail forever. A loyal Follower
Hope it worked out! Let me know if you learned anything interesting! I will say I have seen some PMC builds with a cooking station in the back, like a fold out system that you can access when the rear doors are open. Links in one of my playlists on PMC camper designs I've found on YT.
@@SmartVan So far I am in for $583.64 . The bed has been altered two times to fit. It is 28 inches wide x 74 inches long and 14 inches off the floor. Enough room for 4 - 26 inch x 161/2 inch bins underneath. It has been contoured around the right wheel well. The sink unit is 35 inches long and 15 inches wide. Has an 8 inch deep oval sink connected to a 6 gal Igloo jug with a Baby Whale foot pump. It has been contoured around the wheel well on the left side. My cooking unit sits next to it facing the slider on the left side. A Yette cooler sits behind the drivers seat. There is 16 inches between the bed and the sink unit giving her enough room to fit her bike. She wanted a computer desk that dropped down to cover the sink 24 inches x 35 inches but that didn't work . I put cleats at either end of the sink unit so she could slide this in so she could adjust it out when she sits on the bunk. She was a little nervous when I drilled the 2 inch hole in the back quarter panel for NOCO electrical plug. All we have left to do is complete the insulation of the walls and ceiling and the paneling. The floor has been insulated and laminate installed. She is following your channel for more information about the electronic hook-ups. Thank's for the reply.
Hi Smartvan! Thanks for posting amazing reviews. You really gave me a good idea of how it is like to live in a cascadecamper van. I'm also super interested in purchasing this van and using it as my sleep places for the weekdays (I will stay in a permanent home during the weekends). I have one question. I heard that you are living in Seattle area. As you may know, this city is mostly rainy, gloomy, and not much of sunlight. Does it give you enough solar power to get through the night? charge a laptop and phone etc? I use a Costco electric blanket at night to keep me warm. Will this be still usable in this van? Thank you :)
] I park in an underground garage so I actually get 0 sunlight in the winter. I do just fine driving half an hour each day, since the generator is much more powerful than solar. Even then though I keep my fridge off. No-go on the electric blanket (if it's AC socket), the math just doesn't work out for electric heating. I've tried some electric blankets on amazon supposedly for 12V but they were terrible.
Great video! Respect !
Great vid
You could get one of those Chinese diesel heaters and either install yourself or have someone do it for you and from what I hear they work great use little fuel and heat up really nice
I found this "day in the life" video interesting and valuable as I plan the ergonomics of my PMC. Have you found any way to exploit the sheeted-over space where the second row seating foot wells would go? They have sealed up almost 3 cubic feet in our cargo versions. Cheers.
Cascade campers puts the battery and some electronics down there, but even then there's still a bit of extra space. Sometimes my flip flops make it back there haha. I'm currently not using the space on the driver's side at all, I was considering putting emergency tools there since it's hard to access.
I took that passenger foot section out of my connect. Built storage boxes over them per josh oaks youtube.
👍
Thank you for the excellent tips! How do the front blackout curtains stay in place and where is the curtain rod mounted?
There's an aluminum bar that's held in place with some long bolts that drill into the headliner. There might be a closeup in my van tour video or my LTE video near the beginning. They stay in place with velcro
@@SmartVan that's interesting. I was thinking about placing a curtain rod in the overhead storage. It appears sheldon's travels uses their promaster city this way too
Cool vid. Honest question. How u have 3m subscribers??
I definitely don't! (yet?)
Changing clothes in the garage - does not garner looks from other parking patrons?
Is your inverter pure sine wave?
Have you driven your van in snow? Did you use tire cables?
Not yet, I want to do an overnight ski trip though! I would get chains
@@SmartVan you can't use chains on that van. I just purchased one and was told not to use chains but use the cables.
one pair of shoes , pants and about 5 shirts thats it for me... and 5 pair of underwear done
Did you put a spare tire on your van?
I believe the PMCs can have one underneath the vehicle, I'm not sure I have one.
@@SmartVan If you look under rear and don't see a tire, you don't have one. It will be obvious to see. You can see the round housing where it should be mounted, if you look under and upward. Ram or Fiat really, doesn't supply a spare, you have to buy it for
$$$. Well, I bought my RPC rim on amazon for $70-80. Then strap it secure underneath with black rubber silver hook strapps from home depot along with some stretched cargo netting, so it sure not to fall during rain where tire could slip out of wet rubber cables, causing a accident dropping in front of someone behind you. Happened to me 2am, luckily noone but me on road. So I solved with tight cargo net, now its secure. The Ram mechanism that would secure the tire and release it underneath the van would cost hundreds too. So cable it up like a star pattern around your tire, then cargo net as a safety net when things get wet underneath, was the remedy for me, costing about $150 (rim tire cables net) There are holes in the underbed frame that cable hooks can fit into and you can drill a couple if you need. Anyway, I'm sure you can think of something that suits your safety concerns and produce another way with your ingenuity but the sad issue is, you will need to buy a spare rim tire out of pocket.
@@ALSILVERU2 Really great info, thanks for sharing!
Excuse me Sir, but I couldn't help but notice that you appear to be living out of your van. And were those rain drops that were pelting your roof near the end of your video?
Hello Mr 4321 Dud, but I couldn't help but notice that you appear to be watching a channel other than Static Campervan. Have you obtained the relevant permits from Mr Static in relation to this activity? He'll 'give you rain drops' alright!!!
H.B's Faithful Servant: Please don't bring this up to Mr. Static. He's been through enough already. I mean, the scab is still fresh.
@@4321dud :-) Scott in a Static Campervan: Scabby in Seattle! It's got a ring to it...